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Maps
"Maps" is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5. The song was released on June 16, 2014, as the lead single from their fifth studio album V. Composition The song was written by Adam Levine, Ammar Malik, Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco and Noel Zancanella, and produced by the latter three. Blanco and Malik have previously teamed with Maroon 5 on the songs "Moves Like Jagger" and "Payphone", while Tedder and Zancanella have worked with the group on the songs "Love Somebody" and "Lucky Strike". "Maps" is an up-tempo pop rock track, composed in the key of C# minor (with the main chord progression of A–B–C#m - both in the verses and the chorus - and F#m–G#m-G#7 in the pre-chorus), that contains a "breezy guitar lick". It marks Maroon 5's further departure from the funkier sound for which the band was originally known. The official remix features a new verse from Big Sean and new production beats. Lyrically, the song is about "the search for love, particularly a love that has been lost and needs to be found". In the chorus, Adam Levine sings "All the roads you took came back to me / So I'm following the map that leads to you." Critical reception Idolator's Robbie Daw wrote that "similar to Bruno Mars' 'Locked Out of Heaven', 'Maps' has a Sting/The Police vibe, particularly with the guitar licks and Levine's multi-tracked vocal harmonies on the chorus." He also added that the influence of Ryan Tedder (and OneRepublic's pop-rock anthems, such as "Counting Stars" and "Love Runs Out") is evident. Jeff Benjamin of Fuse compared the opening guitar licks to the "California-cool sound" of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Music Times commented, "With his Levine's singsong melody over the relaxed, plucked guitars and subtle drums, Maroon 5 create a chill vibe before building the song into something a bit more powerful. Though Levine's vocals remain constant, the song soon crescendos into a fuller sound, with a chorus that isn't so much explosive as it is, well, danceable," and compared the track to "Payphone", the lead single from the band's fourth studio album Overexposed (2012): "The more you think about the two lead singles versus each other, the more they feel exactly the same." Commercial performance Shortly after its release, "Maps" quickly reached number one on the Billboard Twitter Real Time Trending 140 chart, eventually staying within the upper ranks for several hours. The song also logged close to 1,800 first-day spins on radio which, according to the Nielsen BDS, would amount to a one-day audience impression of seventeen million. It has since peaked at number six on the Billboard ''Hot 100. It reached its million sales mark in August 2014 and had sold 1.6 million copies by the year's end. The single debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart in late August 2014. As "Maps" topped the eight biggest music charts in South Korea, Maroon 5 became the first foreign artist to top several charts at the same time in Korean music history. Music videos Official video The band announced the official music video for the song through Twitter and posted a teaser on band's official Facebook page. The video, directed by Peter Berg (who has previously worked with the band on the clip for their 2012 single "One More Night"), premiered on MTV and VH1 on July 1, 2014 and was uploaded on Maroon 5's official Vevo channel the next day. The events shown in the video are reversed. "Maps" also marks the first music video appearance in two years of keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, who returned after taking a temporary break from performing in Maroon 5. He plays one of the hospital paramedics in some of the first scenes of the video. The other members of the group: the aforementioned Mickey Madden, guitarist James Valentine, keyboardist PJ Morton, and drummer Matt Flynn are portraying some of the guests seen at a house party). Synopsis The video begins with Adam Levine entering a hospital and nervously looking for a young woman (played by Tereza Kačerová). He finally finds her in the emergency room, where he sees the doctors trying to resuscitate her. Levine then repeatedly asks the staff what has happened to the girl, but he is soon escorted out of the room by two paramedics (as mentioned above, one of them is played by Jesse Carmichael). The next scene is a flashback showing Levine driving a car at a very high speed (going back and forth between the right and wrong side of the road, past the other cars) to get to the hospital. The young woman, revealed to be the girlfriend of Levine's character, is seen next - she is walking down a street, visibly upset, as a man tries to get her attention. After the girl angrily demands him to leave her alone and pushes him away, she walks into the street, is hit by a truck and helplessly falls to the ground. The next scenes reveal what happened earlier: Levine and his girlfriend arrive at a house party, greeted by guests. While the girl is dancing and having fun, Levine is dragged by another partygoer (played by Maroon 5's tour manager, Shawn Tellez) to another room, where he meets a woman (portrayed by Meghan Wiggins). After drinking a lot of alcohol, Levine finds himself in her arms and they share a romantic kiss. Unfortunately, his girlfriend sees them and she soon storms out of the house, despite Levine's attempts to stop her from leaving. The last flashback is of Levine helping his girlfriend choose a dress to wear. Then, they hold each other, as they watch a football/soccer game on television together. At the end, all of the events shown in the video come together in the right order, explaining the whole story. The final scene takes the viewer back to the hospital, where the girl is shown flatlining and depicted as having died in the accident. Rumba Whoa video A music video for the song's remix version performed by Rumba Whoa featuring Colombian singer J Balvin. The video was released on October 15, 2014. It follows two teams: Rumba Whoa FC and DJ's United, complete in a game of football / soccer. Levine and Kacerova appears in a original footage from the song's music video, as they watch the game on television. Live performances Maroon 5 performed "Maps" for the first time on June 20, 2014, during their concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. The band played the song for ''The Today Show on June 25, 2014, at Rockefeller Plaza in New York (they did again on September 1, 2014, that was the day for the world premiere of the V'' album). They also played the song at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards (along with "One More Night") on August 24 and the iHeartRadio Theater in Burbank, California on August 26, 2014. The band performed "Maps", during their appearances on ''America's Got Talent, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Saturday Night Live. The song is part of a setlist for their worldwide concert tour, Maroon V Tour (2015–2018). Personnel Maroon 5 * Adam Levine – vocals, songwriting * Jesse Carmichael – keyboards * Mickey Madden – bass guitar * James Valentine – guitars * Matt Flynn – drums, percussion * PJ Morton – keyboards Other personnel * Ryan Tedder – production, songwriting * Benny Blanco – production, songwriting * Noel Zancanella – production, songwriting * Ammar Malik – songwriting * Sam Schamberg, Jason Fields, Travis Leete and Shawn Tellez – additional handclaps and vocals Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications and sales Category:Songs Category:Songs from V Category:Singles Category:Singles from V